Torment: Tides of Numenera promises to be a new age spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, the legendary RPG by Black Isle Studios that is often called the greatest example of its genre. The game has so far suffered delays, and a lack of information, but now, it seems as though plans for the game’s release are solidly in place- and that they include exposure to a much wider audience than the game would have had otherwise.

You see, Torment will be launching on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One alongside the PC version when it launches in the first quarter of next year, publisher Techland confirmed to Eurogamer today. The decision was ultimately arrived at after an earlier inXile game, Wasteland 2, did very well upon its console release.

“Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut‘s success and the gratitude expressed by a lot of fans after this release made us begin to plan the Torment: Tides of Numenera for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One,” inXile’s Brian Fargo said. “We’re especially excited to work with Techland, who – as a fellow developer – know exactly how to execute such a release without compromising the quality.”

Torment‘s console versions will be shown off at Gamescom this year, which means we are just a couple of weeks away from seeing the game in action. Until then, if you want to get an idea of how the console version of the game plays, you can just check out the new gameplay trailer of the game, showcasing some console version footage, below.

inXile Entertainment’s Torment: Tides of Numenera has been delayed to Q1 2017 according to company founder Brian Fargo in an update on Kickstarter.

Though slated to release in 2016, the game was delayed due to the process of localizing the one million word script in the game, which accounts for an additional six months of iteration. To complete this, inXile will be taking help from a publishing partner and offering beta access to backers who have the final game as their reward tier.

Fargo noted that, “We know it’s frustrating to wait a little longer, but we’ve come this far. I remember the pain of moving the release of Baldur’s Gate 1 effectively into January in much the same way, but that ended up being the right move and we all know how fondly it is remembered today. These types of trade-offs are never easy, but from day one it’s been our goal to make Torment the masterpiece you deserve.”

What are your thoughts on the delay? Let us know below.

InXile Entertainment’s Torment: Tides of Numenera may have been confined to the background in the past year due to Wasteland 2 but it’s still making good progress. This is despite the recent announcement that project lead Kevin Saunders has departed, causing the game to be delayed to 2016.

In an update on Kickstarter, Saunders talked about player feedback from the alpha and how it helped in refining the Crisis system along with providing a general status update on the project. “As with any product launch, there will be the inevitable challenges to overcome, but like a finely tuned engine, things are humming along. I’m proud to have played a part in creating and tuning that engine, which is where my unique experience and skills were most beneficial to the game.

“With the major creative and production decisions now resolved, and the team charging full speed toward completing the game, inXile and I have decided it is time for me to depart from the studio. I am proud of the project that I’m leaving in capable hands, and while I do not know what I’ll do next, I look forward to new challenges and opportunities.”

For now, work is ongoing with the UI and environment art has been mostly completed. Former project lead for Wasteland 2 Chris Keenan has taken over for Saunders. A beta is expected before the year is out though so stay tuned for more updates.

InXile Entertainment invited its backers for the upcoming RPG Torment: Tides of Numenara to vote for whether the game would features turn-based or real-time combat. By the time the poll ended, 20 percent of backers had voted with the vote coming down to 40 percent for turn-based combat and 47 percent for real-time.

InXile described this as “essentially a draw” and decided to opt for turn-base combat.

“We were leaning toward turn-based combat because we believe it’s better suited for the kind of tactical complexity we’re looking for through our Crisis system. We believe it’s a stronger fit for bringing narrative elements, including dialogue with NPCs, into hand-crafted combat situations. We have decided to go with turn-based combat. Ultimately, there are no losers here.”

The developer has more experience with turn-based combat, since their most recent title Wasteland 2 boasted of the same. Let’s see how it affects the core gameplay when Tides of Numenara rolls around.

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He also spoke about possibly developing for consoles after Wasteland 2’s release. “It’s been happening, and I’ve heard from Microsoft. I used to want to publish directly on the Xbox, and it was ‘OK, how many retail SKUs are you going to put out?’ I always felt there was there this huge disconnect. Why do I have to put products on a retail shelf in order to be on XBLA?” But the situation quickly changed for the better.

“You’re hearing Microsoft reaching out, they’re saying ‘Hey, we want you on the machine,’ they’re making the calls,” Fargo said. “You can use the hardware as a development kit, making it more accessible, because indies can’t afford to buy [development kits]. It used to be that if you shipped on Sony first you could never be on the Xbox. Now they’re like ‘Well, we’re flexible, maybe there are features…’ There’s a different dialog there.

“They’ve come full circle in a matter of ninety days, on every part of it, including the ability to be on the platform at all. Sony was already there; they go one step further with their Dev Pub fund, where they actually give developers money upon delivery of a game. You’re actually hearing executives at both those companies – and Nintendo, I should say – talk about why indies are important. Someone called it the Cambrian explosion of creativity, I love that phrase.”

CEO inXile Entertainment Brian Fargo stated that, “This is a perfect opportunity for inXile: it allows us to continue to focus all of our energy and money into the creative aspects of the game while letting Deep Silver take our game outside of the pure digital space.

“This has the added bonus of allowing us to spend more of the Kickstarter funds on development while continue to retain all ownership and control. I’ve known the people at Deep Silver for many years and they have always been a first rate organisation to deal with.”

Currently, inXile is also developing Torment: Tides of Numenara, another popular Kickstarter-funded game which will be the spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment.

“I reached out to some publishers and said ‘Hey, you should support us and I could talk about how you guys support indies,'”. Of course the response was lackluster. As Fargo notes, the response was, “‘We should find a way to do business, how about if we do the marketing for you?’

“It’s not like the publishers are worried too much by this; our numbers are not too interesting to them. I read the other day that Tomb Raider sold [over three] million copies and they’re disappointed. If we sold 2 million copies, that means I build new roleplaying games for the next two decades, guaranteed. That’s what that would mean to us.”

It’s an intriguing thought, especially considering that the scope for blockbusters is continuing to narrow with each passing year.

As far as video game related projects go, it only falls behind the Kickstarter for the OUYA console which ended at $8,596,474.

On the Kickstarter page, inXile wrote that, “All of us made history yesterday, reaching a new record for the most funded video game on Kickstarter! Thank you so much for your support, both through your pledges and through your spreading the word to others.”

Gamers can still contribute to the game’s development through PayPal. As the spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, Torment: Tides of Numenara features many of the original development team and several old-school developers on board.

Just recently, the team add Planescape lead designer Chris Avellone to the team to contribute to the narrative and oversee all aspects of development.

Avellone co-founded Obsidian Entertainment, where he is currently working on Project Eternity as Creative Director. On Torment: Tides of Numenera, he will review and contribute to the story, characters and overall gameplay of the game along with scripting an eighth companion alongside Colin and Monte Cook.

With the addition of Avellone, inXile will now be holding stretch goals for a ridiculous $4.5 million. This include an even more complicated morality system, additional new locations and personal stronghold for the player will be included should backers reach the goal in the next, oh, 55 hours.

As it stands, inXile has achieve more than enough. Now all that remains is to see the final product, and judging by screenshots, it looks great already.

Based in the same universe as the classic Planescape Torment, the screenshot is meant to represent both a technology and lighting test within the Bloom, and was created using a 2D pre-rendered background technique within the Unity Engine.

The Bloom, by the way, is a sort of semi-sentient predator extending its tendrils throughout reality and masks both terror and wonder alike. So naturally this would be the hub for commerce in Torment.

Lead Environment Artist Koy van Oteghem stated, “Torment will certainly present some special challenges, but more so I think, unique opportunities to realize our vision in a new old way. We’re looking back to a 2D approach, with a fresh eye rooted in contemporary modeling, texturing, and engineering techniques.”

With $3,356,770 pledged by 61,305 backers, it’s certainly looking the part, that’s for sure.